Xbox 360 video playback FAQ
by James Ransom-Wiley 
{ Dec 3rd 2007 at 4:25PM }
The Xbox dev team has posted an updated FAQ answering a smorgasbord of video playback questions. Confirming the results of Joystiq's own tests -- yep, DivX and Xvid files now play perfectly -- the guide acknowledges support for MPEG-4 Part 2 (Simple and Advanced Simple Profile) videos, which will be playable once tomorrow's update has been installed. The post does note that additional functionalities (menus, subtitles, multiple audio tracks, etc.) that are sometimes contained in DivX files will not be supported by Xbox 360, and in some cases can render such files unplayable. Though, for the most part, all of your BitTorrent'd cache will play whether streamed from a computer or fed directly from a USB storage device.The Xbox Team's guide also gives pointers on how to organize your files into a hierarchy that takes advantage of 360's sorting filters and how to associate a thumbnail image with each video, in addition to a list of gamepad shortcuts: Push 'Start' to begin video playback from a bookmarked position and bypass the Resume/Restart sub-page. But it's not all just "duh" tips, the FAQ gets into the nitty-gritty of BVOPs, quarter pixel motion compensation, and even ... quantization! (Yeah, we're just gonna keep on pretendin' like we know.)
[Thanks, Thomas]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Dec 3rd 2007 4:37PM
The only thing I care about is if it will play my porn.
If so, then the 360 is my savior.
What is a man? @ Dec 3rd 2007 4:44PM
I hear that
rdj75 @ Dec 3rd 2007 4:47PM
LOL, cant argue with that.
velocitystrike @ Dec 3rd 2007 4:59PM
What is porn
Rususeruru @ Dec 3rd 2007 5:09PM
What do you think the kid in the pic is watching, Looney Toons?
Kevlar @ Dec 3rd 2007 5:16PM
What is porn, literally, or metaphorically?
Literally? I feel sad for you.
Metaphorically, it's a valid question. What IS porn, really? What does it mean for our species? Is it a moment in space and time, a display of forbidden love doomed to be repeated infinitely? Is it a more focused demonstration of the passion our beings possess? Perhaps, in some abstract method, a perpetual, unseen, unfelt bond that ties us together through the act of communal pseudo-reproduction? Is there deeper philosophical meaning in the stream of bits from which Hot.Asian_Teens-xXx_2007-(dirty-version).mpg is comprised?
Truly, only the mightiest of men, after long, studious hours of "participation" shall know.
ThornedVenom @ Dec 3rd 2007 6:22PM
Porn is that thing you look for on websites, but for which you have to lie about being over 18.
Farseer (GDI) @ Dec 3rd 2007 4:38PM
"Confirming the results of Joystiq's own tests -- yep, DivX and Xvid files now play perfectly --"
Excuse me while I pick my jaw up off of the floor.
Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Dec 3rd 2007 4:50PM
They only play perfect because they didn't test it in Extender mode.
MinorHavoc @ Dec 4th 2007 1:07AM
I bet that's only because that requires an update to MCE and MCE is done by a separate team that's working on a different schedule.
Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Dec 4th 2007 1:40PM
That is perhaps true, but I bet money that when the extender update goes up (whenever the hell that is) that the 360 will magically be forgotten.
sc7 @ Dec 3rd 2007 6:46PM
The Xbox 360 team listens well to the community, and the DivX support is a killer key to the living room set top box competition, beating out the PS3 to shipping DivX support.
FidliousWong @ Dec 3rd 2007 4:47PM
"The post does note that additional functionalities (menus, subtitles, multiple audio tracks, etc.) that are sometimes contained in DivX files will not be supported by Xbox 360, and in some cases can render such files unplayable."
Well... SHIT. There goes Code Geass, Gundam 00, and Keroro support...
pedantic @ Dec 3rd 2007 5:33PM
DivX has their own media container format that has a .divx extension. This is basically a hack of AVI to support menus, subtitles, multiple audio tracks. Most anime these days that support subtitles and multiple audio tracks use the Matroska container. Matroska has very little overhead, and supports pretty much everything.
As part of the MPEG-4 (A)SP, I would expect they would support the AVI container, but none of the non-standard extensions DivX Inc. felt they needed to add.
KiraXD @ Dec 4th 2007 1:06AM
seriously :( although all anime i watch is MKV format (best imo) but since i have the PC/360/PS3 connected to my HDTV and all sitting side by side.. i could care less about video playback on the consoles (still nice though i guess)
honkyjesusownsu @ Dec 3rd 2007 4:49PM
Wait a second, so CD and DVD data discs with DivX files are not supported?
It has to be streamed?
Useless/10
Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Dec 3rd 2007 4:51PM
No, they play from any source you can play any other videos.
Except in the Extender. So I agree with your useless 0/10 score.
AirIntake @ Dec 3rd 2007 4:49PM
This is great, no more transcoding or using my laptop for vids.
Anticrawl @ Dec 3rd 2007 4:55PM
So it will stream from my PC just fine and load up from a mass storage device via USB. I thought everyone just wanted to know if it will load via CD or DVD. Atleast I do, never tried playing anything through my DVD player so pardon me if it already does but my huge collection of legal backups of anime episodes and porn has been collecting dust for a while now in the form of burned CDs/DVDs with AVI and DivX formatted files on them.
Anticrawl @ Dec 3rd 2007 4:59PM
Otherwise I'll continue to either stream via media-center or use my TV as a second monitor to my desktop or laptop and slide the media player over to my seconds screen so I can watch it on my TV. Either method is pretty inefficient though, would love to remove one of the mediums to decrease my energy usage. And yeah I won't put porn/anime/movies on my external drives, already have enough important shit I have to archive on those.
Dan @ Dec 3rd 2007 7:02PM
Good enough for me. saves me swapping my video cables etc every time I want to watch a video
psyborg @ Dec 3rd 2007 7:27PM
Maybe a noob question but does this mean we can play avi files now?
h0mi @ Dec 3rd 2007 5:03PM
Some clarification please.
"From Windows Media Center to Xbox Media Center Extender"
This means when I stream from my PC to my 360 using vista or XP MCE functionality right? I have no idea what home server is.
E.D. @ Dec 3rd 2007 5:03PM
Here's hoping Connect360 adds support for this really soon.
harma41 @ Dec 3rd 2007 6:36PM
I email the developer about this, and here is the official reply from nullriver, the maker of Connect360:
"i dont even think we'll need to update, should just work in most cases
i cant comment on when fture updates will come, only to say, as soon as possible ;-)"
E.D. @ Dec 3rd 2007 5:04PM
Here's hoping Connect360 adds support for this really soon.
Christopher Grant @ Dec 3rd 2007 5:23PM
You can rename .AVI files to .WMV files -- that's what I've been doing the last couple days. It's a pain, but it works fine. Let's hope that they update it soon since, by all appearances, it's a pretty painless fix.
Eric @ Dec 3rd 2007 5:09PM
Does any one else have problems playing mp3's I have noticed that some Mp3's do not play on my 360. For instance the new radiohead album does not play. I link my 360 though zune. when i try to play the file on the 360 it has a red x next to it. anyone know why or how to fix?
Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Dec 3rd 2007 5:20PM
Have you moved the files around on your PC.
The extender on the 360 has its own lists for the locations of previously discovered media. If you move that media on your PC to a new folder, the 360 won't be able to play it because its still looking for it at the old location.
Worse yet, if you tell the 360 where the album now resides, it will create another separate entry for it that will work, leaving you with 2 albums of the same name and content, with only 1 that works. It becomes a crap shoot.
Renato de Sousa @ Dec 3rd 2007 5:25PM
Eric, I got that as well. I disabled media sharing from Zune (I already have sharing from WMP enabled) and it worked. So I guess it's some weirdness with the zune software (or perhaps having both enabled)
Eric @ Dec 3rd 2007 5:24PM
No there all in the same place. I just recently riped a cd to my hard drive using media player and saving them in mp3 format.The 360 finds the file and list all the songs in the album but won't play the damn thing.
Gangsta Smurf @ Dec 3rd 2007 5:30PM
When will the update take place? Tonight at midnight? Tomorrow in the afternoon? I scanned through the article but I didn't see it if it's there.
pete @ Dec 3rd 2007 5:48PM
December 4, 2:00 A.M. PST (5:00 A.M. EST)
monkeymonkeymonkey @ Dec 3rd 2007 5:36PM
I have plain ol Windows XP Home. I am currently using Tversity to stream to my 360. It transcodes Divx/Xvid now. Should I keep using Tversity since it also does internet video and photos, or is it better to use anothe app? Any suggestions?
rom @ Dec 3rd 2007 6:39PM
Well, since you are already set up and using Tversity..you might as well just stick with it. Since all thats really changed is that you no longer have to convert(transcode) the file before streaming it. So it's pretty much pointless to start from scratch with another program.
Paul @ Dec 3rd 2007 5:44PM
okay question...
will we be able to copy any of these videos that we stream via usb drive onto our xbox 360 hard drive. or is it steaming only? thanks in advance
Paul @ Dec 3rd 2007 5:45PM
other than my question this all looks good to me!
CubeGuy @ Dec 3rd 2007 6:11PM
XviD works?
*foam at mouth*
Simon @ Dec 3rd 2007 8:00PM
Important Tip:
Their guide claims that you can only use FAT32 for your external USB storage and thus you're limited to 32 gig drives with 4 gig files. This isn't true.
Bizarrely enough, due to ipod support, the 360 also supports the Mac HFS file system. That's right, you can take files on your mac, put them on your mac external hard drive, and then plug it into your 360 and watch. I do it all the time.
kftgr @ Dec 3rd 2007 8:55PM
@simon
The guide says that XP / Vista can only format USB drives to 32GB.
[quote]
What size USB storage device does the Xbox 360 support?
The Xbox 360 will support as big of a storage device as you can format using FAT32. Unfortunately when formatting a device in Windows Vista or Windows XP you will be restricted to a maximum FAT32 size of 32GB. You can work around this limitation by using a 3rd party utility or using an alternative Operating System that does not have this restriction. Please note that the maximum size of any single file on FAT32 is 4GB.[/quote]
marklar @ Dec 4th 2007 12:47AM
teh awesome
Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Dec 4th 2007 8:35AM
The update is pretty freaking awesome!!!
James @ Dec 6th 2007 11:52PM
Am now watching Heroes in HD Xvid (awesome) thanks to TVersity. Bless you, Bill Gates, for letting me torrent TV shows without hooking up my PC to my TV. I need that HDMI port for my new PS3 ;-)
The funny part? I bought the PS3 because I thought it had had Divx/Xvid support for a while now, only to find out that my 360 (which I've had for over a year) gets it first. Ah well, at least I have Ratchet and Clank...